March 27, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 18 Arizona State water polo team, following a tough loss earlier in the day, rebounded in the final game of the ASU Invitational to hand No. 19 Cal Baptist a 6-5 defeat Saturday night at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe. The Sun Devils (8-12, 1-6 MPSF) received goals from four players to earn the victory and send the Lancers (18-11) to their second defeat of the day.
Much like the Sun Devils' earlier loss to No. 4 San Diego State (6-5), the visitors struck first with Holly Curran scoring for CBU 18 seconds into the contest. But ASU battled back with several strong attacks, including forcing a 4-meter penalty that Katie Hedley (Fr., Lake Forest, Calif.) scored on to tie the game one at the 5:31 mark. Two minutes later, Katie Davis (Sr., Riverside, Calif.) found the back of the net for her 33rd score of the season.
With 1:28 showing on the first quarter clock, CBU struck back to tie the game at two when Curran scored her second of the contest. But the Sun Devils responded on their next opportunity as Tessa Wyborny (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) got open on the right side of the net and put home her shot.
Leading 3-2 at the start of the second stanza, the Sun Devils added their fourth score of the game with Davis adding her 34th goal of the season at the 4:38 mark of the quarter. After both teams battled back and forth with the ASU defense, led by the five saves of goalie Jennifer Sanderson (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.), turning back several close calls. No call was closer than the one made at the end of the half. With six seconds remaining before intermission, Sanderson was whistled for an exclusion and made her way to the side of the pool. The Lancers looked for a quick score, but were denied when Elaine Bentley (So., San Diego, Calif.) blocked the shot on the open net and held the ball to end the half with the hosts on top, 4-2.
The third quarter picked up with Hedley scoring her second goal of the contest at the 6:13 mark to put the hosts on top, 5-2. After several more shot attempts, Lancer goalie Kasey Weaver collected a save at the 4:38 mark and immediately lofted a shot to the opposite end of the pool that found the back corner of the goal to bring the score to 5-3. Less than one minute later, Beth Bartlett scored to bring CBU to within one goal, 5-4. The Lancers got the equalizer 45 seconds later when Curran added her third goal of the game. Following a CBU exclusion, ASU made several crisp passes that eventually ended in Kimberlee Stevens (So., Lodi, Calif.) putting the ball in the back of the net for what would be the game-winning score after neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
ASU has won the last two games in the series, including a four-overtime, 11-10, affair at the start of the season, with CBU winning the first four contests. All six games played between the two teams have ended in one-goal outcomes. In the Sun Devils' first season, CBU won, 8-7, and won three times last year (5-4, 7-6 OT and 5-4) before ASU ended the streak and started its own.
In the third game of the day, No. 9 California upset No. 4 San Diego State, 5-2, in MPSF action. Jodie Needles, Lauren McGee, Cara Chlebicki, Elsie Windes and Annie Wight each tallied one goal for the Golden Bears while Sandy Onweller and Holly Hartzell recorded the goals for the Aztecs. Cal took an early 1-0 lead into the second quarter before scoring two more goals for the 3-1 lead at the break. In the second half, SDSU closed the gap to 3-2 at the end of the third, but two Cal goals put the game away.
Arizona State returns to action next weekend with a pair of conference road contests in Southern California. The Sun Devils open at No. 10 UC Santa Barbara April 3 at noon before heading to No. 2 UCLA for a 1 p.m. April 4 game.